Although everyone celebrates the Spring Festival every year, few people actually know about it.
So far, the "earliest Spring Festival" (the first day of the first lunar month) occurred on January 21, 1966.
And "The Latest Spring Festival" is the two tied for first place.
They were February 20, 1920, and February 20, 1985.
There is a whole month difference between the earliest period and the latest period.
But if calculated according to the calendar, this is still not the ultimate.
Because if there are no artificial adjustments to the lunar calendar, people will usher in the real "latest Spring Festival in history" on February 21, 2319.
If you look at it this way, you will find a very interesting phenomenon.
In fact, almost all the earliest and latest Spring Festivals that have existed occurred within the 20th century.
This means that Hong Yanwu’s life not only coincided with the earliest Spring Festival in 1966, but also happened to coincide with the latest Spring Festival that occurred for the second time.
This is really a lucky thing.
Perhaps, this gap between the two extremes can be regarded as "there is God's will in the dark".
This indicates that the republic in this century must embark on the road of revival, and our national destiny will complete the transformation from decline to prosperity.
It is also consistent with the personality changes that are taking place in Hong Yanwu himself.
1985 is the year of Yichou. The most distinctive feature of the New Year atmosphere that people felt this year was noisy.
For example, the market has become richer, with large and small stores offering promotions, and there are countless types of New Year goods.
Then citizens will have a choice when shopping.
So there are people everywhere, and it's much more lively than it was during the rationing period.
In addition, there are more Spring Festival activities in society.
For example, the Temple of Earth has resumed the tradition of the Spring Festival temple fair, which will be lively from February 10th to February 24th.
There was also the first National Ballet Competition held from February 11th to February 15th, which added a lot of excitement to the year ahead.
Even the performance of the Spring Festival Gala was an extremely bold attempt.
Director Huang Yihe decided to move the Spring Festival Gala stage to the Workers' Stadium because of the excitement brought by the military parade and after watching the concert video of Teresa Teng's "1984 Billion Applause Concert".
But no matter what, the busiest places before the year were the Philatelic Corporation and various postal offices.
Because the price of the first set of zodiac monkey tickets in 1980 has been rising, and it has driven the zodiac tickets in the following four years to continue to rise.
This year's Ox zodiac tickets have completely become the type of tickets that the majority of philatelic enthusiasts are snapping up.
Even newspapers made special reports and announced a shocking news.
It is said that since the stamps were issued, until two days before New Year's Eve, all zodiac stamps in the country have been sold out in such a short period of time.
It's a pity that what everyone doesn't know is that behind such a hot scene, there will only be the helplessness of "a good vote but not a good one".
Because of this bull ticket, it was also the year when the circulation of zodiac tickets began to expand rapidly.
According to data, the number of pigs issued in 1983 was only 12.75 million, and the number of rats issued in 1984 was only 21 million, which was almost the same as the number of ordinary tickets found that year.
This year, the circulation of cattle tickets was as high as 120 million, while the circulation of ordinary tickets was only more than 10 million.
It can be seen from this that the postal service saw the popularity of zodiac tickets in recent years, and began to blindly expand the circulation of zodiac tickets under the banner of meeting social demand.
And this is the real reason why the prices of the five zodiac signs issued in 1980-1984 are significantly higher than the prices of the subsequent seven zodiac signs.
It is particularly worth mentioning that the circulation of cattle tickets this year actually exceeded the original historical number of more than 90 million by 20 million.
The reason for this is naturally attributed to the fact that the price of monkey tickets is much higher than the original historical trend.
In fact, under the influence of Hong Yanwu's hoarding of goods.
At this time, the price of monkey tickets has exceeded ten times the original historical trajectory.
The official guide price for a single ticket is one hundred yuan, while private transactions are close to one hundred and fifty yuan.
Totally incredible heights.
But regarding this matter, Hong Yanwu himself, who had theoretically mastered the ability to realize nearly 100 million yuan, didn't bother to calculate it at all.
His thoughts were entirely focused on carefully preparing the New Year's Eve dinner at home with Quanzi.
After all, you have been promoted to a professional chef, so you have to show your skills to make sure your learning is not in vain, right?
So this year, not only the Hong family, but also the Shui family's New Year's Eve dinner, these two brothers took care of it all.
This actually liberated all the female comrades in the two families, and they could completely avoid working on the stove.
Although it was impossible to take a complete break, there were still enough chores to keep them busy.
But compared to other families, this is enough for them to be arrogant and look down upon the mother-in-law, daughter-in-law, mother-in-law and daughter of other families.
For example, Aunt Shui of the West Courtyard kept showing off to the neighbors that day. She had to tell anyone she caught. She ate ready-made food in the evening, and her son-in-law took care of the New Year's Eve dinner.
Shui Qing was so embarrassed that she kept guarding the door of her house and refused to let her out of the house.
As for the result, of course I won’t blame it.
As the direct disciples of "Zhang Dashao", Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan have been practicing hard for two years.
What's more, they have the foundation given by Master Yu, so whenever they use their hands to do anything, there will be attribute bonuses.
It's the same when you're in the sea, and it's the same when you're learning to cook. One year of training is almost as good as ten years for an ordinary person.
So the standard of this meal is quite good.
Such as "Ziqi Donglai" (braised sea cucumber with green onion), "braised prawns", "tiger skin elbow", "dry roasted yellow croaker", "braised two shredded chicken", "Four-Xi Meatballs", these are the main dishes to make
It's stylish.
The quality is at least as good as the "Er Zao" in other restaurants.
"Grilled mutton skewers", "Old Noodles Steamed Buns", as well as the cream snacks "Bald" and "Water Uta" that they specially learned from "Zhang Dashao", are rare and exclusive varieties, and also have unique flavors.
In addition, there are honey-pickled quinces grown in the Hong family's own garden, and the home-brewed royal wine "Mandianxiang" sent by Yuntai's entrustment to enhance the flavor.
But oddly enough, all of these are far less popular than two seemingly ordinary dishes.
One is "Potato Tofu" and the other is "Sea Rice and Green Onion".
Why?
We might as well go through it here because of the extraordinary craftsmanship.
First of all, these two dishes are perfectly cooked.
Take this pot of flattened tofu as an example.
This dish is almost always cooked in local restaurants in Shandong.
First cut half a catty of southern tofu, and then put it into a bowl with three centimeter slices.
Crack three eggs and pour them into the tofu bowl. Add a little stir-fried chopped green onion and mix well.
Add vegetable oil to the wok, heat it up, pour in the tofu and eggs, and spread into a round cake.
When both sides are fried until golden brown, add rice wine, soy sauce, refined salt and sugar to taste, and then thicken it.
After it comes out of the pot, the dish should be golden in color, with a tangy aroma of green onions, and the juice is rich and flavorful. It is delicious as a meal.
As for the quality, there is no doubt that it depends on the flavor and the heat of frying the tofu.
At the same time, this dish often has a difficult problem.
It's just that the juice loosens easily, and once the juice loosens, it doesn't taste good.
Therefore, it must be served while it is hot and served immediately as soon as it comes out of the pan.
If there is any delay, the customer may become dissatisfied.
As for what "Zhang Dashao" taught Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan, it was a method improved by the court.
The main improvement is to dip the cut tofu pieces into the egg batter and fry them.
This will not only give a better appearance, but also ensure the deliciousness of the dishes.
But the most crucial secret is that when thickening the soup, starch is not used, but bone broth is used.
Because bone broth contains collagen, the soup prepared in this way is fragrant and rich, and will not cause diarrhea when it is cold.
In addition, "Zhang Dashao" also has his own upgraded version of private dishes, and even changed the popular dishes to delicacies.
Thanks to the old man's unique method, you have to spread the shrimp filling on both sides of the tofu, then add the egg paste and fry it.
And the rice wine used to remove the fishy smell must also be soaked in shrimps.
In this way, in addition to the salty flavor, this dish also adds a "fresh" flavor, wouldn't it be delicious?
So Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan did this according to the upgraded version.
Not to mention that masters like Hong Lucheng and Wang Yunlin who have seen the big world constantly praise it for its wonderfulness.
Even Shui Gengsheng, after eating this dish, Aunt Shui was just like Grandma Liu eating "eggplant".
There was a joke that I had to learn from Hong Yanwu, but I would just eat tofu from now on.
You can see how tempting the taste is.
Next, I have to talk about this "braised green onions with sea rice".
This dish is said to have been created by the legendary imperial chef "Zhang Dongguan". Jin Qian'an, a regular customer of Tan's cuisine, regards this dish as his favorite.
But despite its extraordinary history and high level, the materials used are actually very simple.
Just cut the scallions into two or three-inch pieces, fry the scallions in vegetable oil until thoroughly fried, and then put them on a plate.
Finally, pour the seasoning soaked in dried shrimps, soy sauce and sugar into the pot, collect the soup and pour it into a plate with green onions.
What's interesting is that even before "Zhang Dashao" passed on his art, the children of the Hong family had always had this good fortune.
This is because Wang Yunlin, as a lady, loved this dish when she was young.
However, because the Hong family and the Wanyan family have long been ruined, Wang Yunlin is a master who has eaten pork but never seen a pig run away.
It would be a bit absurd to make it based on the taste in memory and a few words from the private chef at home.
There are actually two tricks to this dish.
First, the golden hook shrimps must be soaked in rice wine to dissolve them.
Second, onions must be of specific season and variety.
Beijing onions grow in different states in different seasons.
It can be roughly divided into shallots, green onions, green onions, green onions and horn onions.
This dish uses green onions, which are among the Beijing onions.
But not all green onions can be used in vegetables. They must be green onions grown from the ground after frost and before freezing.
Because only after frost in the ground can onions become crisp, tender and delicious, only such green onions can be called top-quality green onions.
Even for the best quality green onions, the quality period can only last until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month of the next year. After that, the quality of the green onions gradually declines.
So in the final analysis, this dish is seasonal and can only be made in winter. After the beginning of spring, green onions can no longer be used.
Precisely because it is close to the beginning of spring, the method of peeling onions like Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan is beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
A bundle of green onions only lasts two plates, and a basket of peeled green onion leaves.
But it must be said that this is by no means a useless effort.
This dish actually had no onion flavor at all.
The two families, no matter men, women, old or young, were all full of praises, and in the end they drank all the soup and water.
Wang Yunlin even sighed sincerely, "This is the right flavor..."
It can be seen that roasting onions is not easy, it is really a unique skill!
Secondly, besides being carefully prepared, these two dishes also have the saying that practice makes perfect.
This is also the original intention of Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan to run restaurants for the public, which requires actual combat and tempering of the fire.
You know, since the opening of "Polar Bear Restaurant", these two stir-fried dishes have been the most ordered by ordinary people in restaurants.
The reason is also obvious, because the raw materials are cheap, the price is cheap.
How much does tofu and green onions cost?
Since Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan started their business, each of them has done thousands of dishes within four months.
Nowadays, hundreds of servings are served out every day. It has long become a signature dish, and their skills must be based on these two dishes.
And having said that, the so-called cheapness depends on who you compare with.
Both dishes are sold for one piece.
To compare with themselves, the price is almost on the same level as the meat dishes provided by the "Big Canteen".
To compare with other restaurants, it is almost on par with the fried chicken and sweet-scented osmanthus meat served in other restaurants.
So when the restaurant opened, many people saw the "Polar Bear" stir-fry menu and were shocked and speechless.
Many people have also asked, why is your stir-fry so expensive? Is this still tofu? Is this still green onion?
The restaurant's reply was just one sentence.
"It's delicious. It's different from other places anyway, and it's not the same thing as those specials. You'll know it as soon as you try it. In this way, if you don't like it after you try it, we'll refund it."
What's the result? It's true.
Even if the tofu and green onions are sold for the price of meat, they are still very popular.
Even the workers of "Polar Bear" guard the big canteen, and people come over to order these two dishes every day at noon.
It can be seen that real cooking skills can turn decay into magic.
From this point of view, the "Polar Bear Restaurant" is indeed annoying.
A piece of tofu and scallions can make people addicted.
The key is, if you don't eat it, you'll still be in a panic.
If you hesitate, it might even be sold out.
Hey, to be honest, as a "Polar Bear" worker and nearby resident, it actually destroys my self-confidence.
Because if you want to be sad, you don’t have to think of sad things.
It is sad enough for them to remember that they are unable to resist tofu and green onions.
Good for nothing! A foodie!
I'm afraid it's a word they often blame themselves for.